Childhood Promises
by Cnerr
Summary: Francis and Arthur were once childhood friends, but were forced to separate with a promise to meet each other again. Fifteen years later they reunite again with one small problem. They had made more promises, but neither of them wants to bring them up in case the other forgot. Fruk Au.
1. A Promise Kept

Two boys were standing in the middle of a street, hugging each other with tears running down their faces. The oldest boy's father bent down and whispered something making both boys cry even harder.

"Don't go! I'll be lonely without you," said the boy with wild blond hair and vivid green eyes.

"We won't be separated forever. One day we'll meet again," said the older boy with long golden hair and sapphire eyes.

The younger looked up with tears in his eyes. "How will we recognize each other? People look different when they get older!"

The older boy took of his necklace around his neck and held it out on his fist. The younger boy stared at it. It was an exact copy of his necklace except the gem was blue, while his own was green. "We will never take off these necklaces so we can recognize each other!"

They younger stared at the silver necklace when an idea came in his head. "Why don't we swap necklaces? So we can have something to remember each other by."

They younger boy took off his necklace and held it out to the other. The necklaces were swapped and put on their new owners necks. "_Venez Francis! Nous allons être en retard_!" the older boy's mother called.

Francis started to walk towards the waiting car before he turned around and said, "Remember to always to wear the necklace! We'll meet again one day! I promise you, Arthur. Au revoir!"

Arthur replied, "I will! Bye Francis!" Francis got into the car and turned around so his face could be seen outside the window. Arthur stayed there on the road, waving until the car could no longer be seen.

After the last traces of the car were gone, Arthur turned around to follow his parents back to his house. He clutched the necklace the entire way back, repeating Francis' words in his head the entire time.

* * *

Later that day, his parents tried to get Arthur to take off the necklace to take a bath. He had a fit and hit his parents every time they tried to take the necklace off him. Eventually, his parents gave up, and let him keep it on.

When he curled up to sleep that night he stared at the jewel in the sword's hilt. His last thought before drifting off to sleep was how the jewel was the same color as Francis' eyes.

* * *

A loud beeping sound went throughout the room. Arthur grumbled under his breath before he turned it off. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying to wake up. His hand reflexively went for the necklace around his neck.

He lifted the sword above his head so he could look at it. The little light in the room glinted off the jewel. Arthur allowed his mind to wander as he looked at the jewel, thinking about the boy that the jewel reminded him of.

Arthur thought of Francis frequently what with the necklace around his neck always reminding him of Francis' eyes. True to his word back then, Arthur hadn't taken off the necklace once. Even when his lovers asked him to when they had sex, he would refuse saying it was too important to take off even once.

Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his short, sandy blond hair. It had been fifteen years since he last saw Francis. You would think that eventually he would get tired of waiting for him and take off the necklace despite his promise.

However, he couldn't. Every time he thought it was silly to keep the necklace on, something in his head said it was too special to remove it. True enough people did ask questions about his necklace and their reactions always varied when he told them the story behind it. Some people laughed and said he should just forget about him while others said it was sweet.

He actually got in a fight once in elementary school when someone said Francis was a weirdo for wanting to meet him again. They continued to say he had probably already forgotten about him and moved on. Of course that thought had actually crept upon him over the years.

Arthur shook the nostalgic thoughts out of his head and rolled out of bed. He went towards his kitchen and didn't bother to cook himself anything. Instead, he started making toast and started boiling water for his tea.

While he waited for the water to boil, he turned on the news to see if anything interesting happened. He mindlessly watched stories about fire and car accidents till he heard the kettle whistling.

He poured his tea and slowly drank it while looking outside his window. He would have stayed there longer, but after he saw the time he decided it was time to get ready.

A few minutes later Arthur was walking outside his house to get inside his car. He turned the ignition and backed out his driveway to go to work.

While stuck in London traffic, Arthur turned on the radio to entertain himself. Recognizing the song, Arthur started tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.

It wasn't much longer when he pulled in the parking lot in front of the company that he inherited from his father. He walked inside and nodded to the secretary before he headed towards his office.

When he got to the elevator he noticed that he wasn't the only one in there. "Hello Ivan. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you for a couple days."

Ivan turned towards Arthur and smiled what seemed, if Arthur didn't know better, an innocent smile "Not much."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, curious to what Ivan had been up to. "If you must know Toris' ex was trying to get him to come back to him. So I had to let him know that Toris was mine."

Arthur chuckled. "That would have only taken one day. What happened the second day?" Arthur asked even though he guessed the reason.

"I spent the second day reminding Toris why I'm better than Feliks in certain areas."

"So I imagine Toris won't be at work today on account of not being able to sit?"

Russia nodded. "He would have been out for two days but our date lasted a little longer than expected. Also, don't expect Feliks to show for a while either. I imagine he's both pissed off and scared."

Arthur smiled at Ivan as he walked out of the elevator. "You think Feliks would drop it. After all he didn't complain much when Toris left him."

"Maybe he just realized what he lost," Ivan replied before the elevator door closed.

Arthur waited until the elevator reached his floor, and then walked out towards his office.

Arthur started working on some paperwork when there was a knock on the door. "Enter." His secretary opened the door and informed him that the newest employee was coming up to see him. Arthur nodded and turned back to his papers as the door closed.

He made a habit of meeting all the new employees that he hired. He thought it was good policy to get acquainted with his new employees to make the business friendlier.

A few minutes later there was a timid knock on the door, notifying him of the new employee's presence. Not looking up from his paper, he said, "Come in."

When the door opened Arthur heart a gasp causing him to look up from his paper to see a sight that he wasn't expecting.

* * *

It was luck that Francis found the article in the newspaper. He usually didn't read the newspaper but something told him to look at it that day. He skimmed the titles of the newspaper when he read 'Kirkland Enterprise passed down to President's son'.

It was the name of the company that made him pause. He didn't want to get too hopeful, so he pegged the name as a coincidence. But he continued to read anyway. The world felt like it froze when he read the name of the person that the company was passing down to.

He read the name over and over to make sure he didn't imagine reading it the first time. He caressed the charm on his necklace as he read the article again.

_With the passing of the Rob Kirkland, people have been wondering what would happen to his business. It has been recently announced that his company is being passed down to his eldest son, Arthur Kirkland. _

_There have been questions if someone this young can handle the pressure of running a huge business, but employees have informed us that Arthur had been a part of the running the company for a long time. _

_A press conference has been scheduled to answer any questions that people might have for Arthur._

Francis began researching the company and found some pictures of Rob Kirkland. When he looked at the pictures a smile appeared on his face. Other than a few more gray hairs, he hadn't changed since when he met him when they were kids.

It took a bit more effort, but Francis was able to find a picture of Arthur. It was a snapshot of him talking to his father. Francis immediately recognized him as the friend of his youth. He recognized his messy hair that hadn't seemed to change, his huge eyebrows, and his bright green eyes.

Since Arthur was turned to the side he couldn't see his front. Francis was relieved and disappointed at the same time. He had wanted to know if Arthur had kept one their childhood promises and kept the necklace on. However, there was a small part in his mind that was scared to find out if he kept it or not.

It was a few months before Francis thought about trying to meet Arthur face to face. He went to Kirkland Enterprise because that was the only way he knew how to meet Arthur.

He was nervous as he walked inside the company building, his feet clacking as he walked up to the reception office.

"Welcome to Kirkland Enterprise. How may I help you?" asked the receptionist with a smile on her face. Francis panicked and didn't know what to say. He felt foolish to think that he could simply ask to see the head of a company with the only reason them being childhood friends.

That's when he noticed the sign that said they were now hiring. An idea popped in his head and he started to speak. "I came to apply for the job opening." The receptionist nodded as she pulled out a form.

"Fill this form out and turn it in. When you come back with the completed form we will set up an interview date for you." Francis took the form and thanked the receptionist. As he was walking back to his car, his mind was thinking of ways to make this work.

He was positive that there would be competition for the job, as the company was very popular. His resume was mediocre at best, so he would have to nail the interview. Francis smiled as he got back in his car. Social skills came very easy to him, so he could easily charm his interviewer to give him the job.

Francis went drinking with Antonio and Gilbert before he got the nerve to start to fill the form out. He stalled bringing back the form until two days passed. This time he walked inside confident, knowing exactly what he was going to do.

After turning in the form he picked an interview date, and walked out of the company building once more.

Francis tried his very best at the interview, but he still didn't know if he did good enough to get the job. It wasn't until he got a call a couple of days later did he know that he did spectacular and got the job.

The call also informed him that his first day of work was going to be a week from now. Francis spent the week in a mixture of happiness and dread. Just the thought of meeting his childhood friend was enough to make him ecstatic. Then the evil thoughts would sink in.

He constantly worried that Arthur might have forgotten about him. Or that he remembered him, but decided he didn't like him. In his hours of worrying, he eventually came to a conclusion.

If Arthur was still wearing the necklace, he would rekindle their past friendship. If he wasn't wearing the necklace he would try and become friends with him anyways. After all, friends like him didn't show up often.

When he walked in the company doors again he was so nervous that he was fidgeting. It also didn't help when the secretary told him that Arthur Kirkland wanted to see him.

It was a few minutes later when he was outside Arthur's office. He carefully reached up and knocked on the door. "Come in." With his hand shaking, Francis turned the door knob.

Francis looked inside and saw Arthur hunched over his desk looking at a piece of paper. He involuntarily gasped when he saw the necklace around his neck.

Arthur looked and up and his eyes widened. Standing in right of front of him was a man that looked very close to Francis. What had him still in shock wasn't the resemblance but the necklace around his neck.

"Francis," Arthur asked in a hoarse whisper. Francis didn't have time to respond before he was pulled in a hug. Francis was shocked for a second before he returned the hug.

They just stood there before Francis broke the silence. "You remember me."

"Of course I do. How could I forget you?" Francis smiled in response. For the first time in days Francis felt happiness without dread.

Arthur was happy to see Francis again, but a little thought popped in his head ruining the moment. Did Francis remember all of the promises that they made when they were kids?

**A/N: "Venez Francis! Nous allons être en retard!" ****Means: "Come Francis! We'll be late! Please review! **


	2. A Promise Made

Realizing that their hug was going to exceed the normal length for two friends, Arthur reluctantly let go of Francis. Trying to banish his earlier thoughts, he decided to answer other questions that were going through his head.

"What are you doing here?" Francis scratched the side of his head with a lightly guilty look on his face.

"I read in the newspaper about this company being handed over to you. So in order to make sure it was you I got a job here."

Arthur raised an eyebrow showing his disbelief. "I took over the companies a few months ago. It wouldn't have taken that long for you to get a job plus you could have looked my father up and recognized him."

Francis smiled slightly showing that he had been caught. "I delayed meeting you for a while. I was afraid that you would forget about me and our childhood promise."

Arthur playfully hit Francis on the shoulder. "You're a bloody git you know. We've could have met a few months earlier if you weren't such a pansy." Arthur's smile showed that despite his words he understood what had Francis gone through.

There was a bit of awkward silence before a knock on the door interrupted it. A head with blond hair and glasses appeared in the doorway. "Dude I know the new guy is hot but you better not be making out with him."

Arthur's cheeks turned pink before he retorted, "I'm not snogging him! He happens to be a childhood friend and we were just talking. Now go back to work Alfred!"

Francis couldn't help but tease Arthur like he used to do when they were kids. "Not entirely true _mon ami_. You did hug me the second you recognized me."

Alfred smirked and said, "Sounds like to me you were making moves on him~. I wonder how far you would have gotten if I didn't interrupt you."

Arthur was about to retort when he was interrupted by Alfred again. "Anyway the reason I came here is because the new guy needs to start working. You guys can get acquainted after the new guy is done working."

Arthur nodded reluctantly and turned to Francis. "After you're done with work come to my office."

"So you plan on getting reacquainted that way! I'll try and lessen his work load so you guys can have a steamy reunion later," Alfred said with a huge smile on his face.

Arthur threw a stapler at Alfred's head that he easily dodged. He started dragging Francis with him outside of the office before Arthur decided to throw something else at him.

Alfred waited till they were a good distance from Arthur's office before he started talking again. "So are you another childhood friend or are you THE childhood friend."

Francis was about to ask how Alfred knew that before he started talking again. "Never mind. The necklace you're wearing answered my question. In case you're wondering how I knew this, I asked Arthur about the necklace he always wore and he told me about you."

"Why did you remember that?"

"It might be that Arthur doesn't have many friends and when he talks about someone so fondly it got stuck in my mind. Also you're one of his favorite subjects to talk about when he's drunk."

Francis smiled. He was touched that Arthur thought about him that much. Alfred stopped in front of a cubicle and turned to Francis. "This is where you will work for now. But I'm sure Arthur won't keep you here for long. Since it's your first day you won't have to do much. See ya later." With a small wave he walked away leaving Francis to his small cubicle.

Francis sighed as he looked at the workload in front of him. If Arthur hadn't been involved, he would have never taken this job. It was rather dull. All he did was handle requests that were given to Arthur's company.

Of course if he continued to work hard (or if Arthur felt like helping out an old friend) he might get promoted and spend his time doing more desirable things. After all, in a company that handles requests from small business and such there had to be some interesting jobs.

Francis sat down and opened up the first folder. He started working hoping that eventually he wouldn't have to deal with all this paperwork.

* * *

Arthur tried to concentrate on the paper in front of him, but was finding it hard to do so. How could he when the man he had been hoping to see for years was just a few steps away from him. "Patience Arthur. Francis waited months before he actually contacted you. I think you can handle a few hours without seeing him."

Glancing up at the clock, Arthur saw only half an hour passed since Francis was in his office. Arthur put his head on the desk and tried to resist the temptation of running to Francis. Seeing lunch was only in an hour, Arthur decided he would wait to bug him until then. He gave up on looking at his paperwork and tried thinking about how much Francis could have changed.

He wondered if he got a new sibling like he did or how his parents were doing. He was slightly curious if Francis still had the habit of sometimes speaking French even though the conversation was in English.

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend," Arthur mumbled. He should have just kept his mouth shut because Alfred was standing in his office with the one of the biggest grins on his face.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" Alfred's grin widened as he took the seat opposite of Arthur.

"I just came to keep you company. Also to make sure you got some work done because I thought you might have been a bit distracted by a childhood friend just randomly popping up." Arthur was going to tell him to sod off but didn't get a chance because Alfred just continued talking. "For your earlier question, no he doesn't have a girlfriend. He happens to have a boyfriend who he was thinking about breaking up with him for his sister."

Arthur's stomach did flip flops when he found out that Francis was already dating someone. "Why are you telling me this? Like I should care if he's dating someone."

"Because you've had a crush on him since you were a kid."

Arthur felt himself blush a little when he yelled, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Alfred rolled his eyes and said, "Whenever you talk about this guy you always get a smile on your face. On top of that I've noticed that everyone you date looks eerily similar to him."

Arthur halted his retort thinking over what Alfred said. It was true, now that he thought about it, that people he dated had some resemblance to Francis but he didn't think anything of it.

Alfred took his silence as an invitation to continue to talk. "At least think about what kind of relationship you really want with Francis will you? I gotta go, so see ya later." Alfred walked out the door leaving a stunned Arthur behind him. As Arthur sank back into his chair, he wondered if it would be even possible to get what he really wanted.

* * *

Francis rubbed the back of his neck as he headed toward the lunch room. He wasn't really used to working so his first few hours were rough on him. His thoughts brightened when he saw Arthur making himself tea.

"So you actually drink that stuff," Francis asked as he slid next to Arthur.

Arthur jumped almost dropping the tea bag he had in his hand. He turned around and glared at Francis. "It helps calm me down."

"I personally can't stand the stuff but everyone is entitled to their own opinion." Francis looked around the kitchen and didn't see anything he found appetizing. "Want to go out for lunch? I'll pay."

"Sure." Francis grabbed Arthur's hand and started pulling him towards the entrance, the cup of tea forgotten.

When Francis grabbed his hand, Arthur started blushing. _What if people see us and start assuming things_? Of course letting go of Francis' hand would be simpler than worrying, but he didn't think about that option.

"W-Where are we going?"

"A nearby restaurant that some of my friends own." Francis continued to lead Arthur until they were in his car.

Arthur shifted awkwardly in his seat and mumbled, "Nice car."

Francis smiled at him and replied, "_Merci_ _mon petit lapin_."

Arthur glared at Francis for using one of his childhood nicknames. "I didn't like it when you called me that back then and I definitely don't like it now!" Francis chuckled as he pulled out the company premises.

* * *

When Francis pulled in front of the restaurant, Arthur was surprised. He didn't recognize the place that they were going to and he thought he knew London quite well.

Francis turned to Arthur and said, "It may not look like much, but they have good food."

"It better be good or I'll force feed you tea, frog," grumbled Arthur trying to hide his uneasiness.

Francis just smiled as he got out the car and said, "Your personality hasn't changed one bit."

Arthur walked inside the restaurant and was surprised again. From the outside it seemed ordinary, but the inside said something else entirely. It had a comfortable design and the dimmed down lights relaxed Arthur.

"Hey Antonio it's me and I brought a friend," Francis shouted as he walked towards an empty table.

Arthur followed suit and sat across Francis. A few seconds later, a man with smiling green eyes and brown hair came walking out of the kitchen.

"What have you been doing lately? I haven't seen you for a couple of weeks," the man said.

"Not much Antonio. This is my friend Arthur Kirkland," replied Francis.

At the mention of Arthur's name, Antonio's eyes got wide and he started jumping for joy. "So you finally found your childhood friend. I'll go get Lovino to celebrate." Antonio rushed back into the kitchen and returned shortly with a man that looked like he was contemplating biting off Antonio's head.

"Why should I-a care if Francis has a new-a friend?!" yelled the man Arthur assumed was Lovino.

"I thought it might make you happy to celebrate. You've been grumpy all day."

"I don't need-a to celebrate. I need-a to kill that potato bastard who's-a defiling mia fratello!"

"They're just going out on a date. There's no harm in that."

"It-a won't stay innocent-a for long! Before you-a know it Ludwig will be corrupting my brother by doing perverted things-a to him!"

Francis interrupted the argument and asked if they could have some lunch. Antonio cheerfully agreed and dragged Lovino back into the kitchens.

"The love those two share for each other is blinding sometimes."

Arthur raised a skeptical eyebrow at Francis. "You sure they're in love because it didn't seem like that to me."

"They've been dating two years and Antonio is planning on popping the question soon."

"So what are you the expert on love now? And what makes you think he's going to ask Lovino to marry him?"

"I like to think that. I know he's going to pop the question because I helped him buy the ring."

"So are you trying to grow a beard or did you just forget to shave," Arthur asked when his attention came to the facial hair on Francis' face.

"My beard is like this on purpose. It makes me look rather handsome wouldn't you agree?"

Arthur snorted and replied, "It makes you look bloody ridiculous."

"It's better than your huge eyebrows," Francis teased.

Arthur glared at Francis. "Anything else change in the last few years other than the addition of your beard?"

They spent their entire lunch talking about the new things in their lives. They started with the biggest things like Arthur's new brother, Peter, and discussed some smaller things like Arthur's fascination with literature.

During their conversation, Arthur was wondering if the changes, both big and small, could hinder their friendship. When they were back in Francis' car, Arthur decided to voice his concerns.

"Will you leave again if I'm too different from the Arthur you knew when we were kids?"

Francis was silent for a while before he spoke. "I honestly think any changes you've gone through wouldn't change anything. It's just you growing up and becoming more cultured. At the core you're still the same person that I knew when I was a kid and the same goes for me."

Francis' words didn't quiet the rebellious voices in his head. Francis saw this and sighed. "How about we make a promise? No matter how different you are, I won't leave again."

Francis put out his hand and Arthur accepted it. "I promise I won't leave either, no matter how weird you got."

Francis' started up his car and started going back to the company. "How about we got out drinking later. To get reacquainted and stuff," Arthur said with an uneasy voice, as if he was afraid of rejection.

Francis smiled and said, "That would be Merveilleux."

"I don't understand frog just so you know."

"If I remember correctly you could understand French perfectly when were kids," said Francis earning him a growl and playful punch from Arthur.

**A/N: Merveilleux=marvelous in French**

**If you have any other translation questions, just ask it in your review~**


	3. A New Beginning

After he was done with his work, Francis found himself in Arthur's office. They would have gone drinking right away, but Arthur was still working. So for now he was content with watching Arthur work.

"Will you stop watching me? It's really creepy," Arthur mumbled, not even bothering to look up.

Francis smiled and replied, "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Entertain yourself. Go and talk to someone until I'm done."

"But I don't know anybody other than you."

"Then make a friend. If you quit distracting me I'll be done in 30 minutes."

"Alright. I'll leave you alone for half an hour, but after that I'll be back so you better be finished."

Arthur rolled his eyes obviously not believing him. Francis walked out of the door and started looking for his new friend. His efforts were wasted because he was confronted the moment he got out of the door.

"So you're the guy everyone's been talking about," said a woman with brown hair and a look that said she was up to something. She grabbed Francis by the arm and started dragging him away.

"What do you want with me?"

"All I want to do is talk." Francis was pulled in an office and the door was closed behind him.

"My name is Elizabeta," she said with a sweeter smile on her face.

"Francis."

"Oh I know who you are. Not often we get a new employee that's so friendly with our boss."

"What makes you think we're close?" Francis asked wondering why Elizabeta was questioning his relationship with Arthur.

Elizabeta smiled with a glint in her eye. "You took him out to lunch and he was rather comfortable with letting you hold his hand, even if it was brief. Arthur isn't the type to socialize so I would like to know how you got close to him so fast."

"We happen to be childhood friends and are trying to get reacquainted."

Elizabeta squealed and started dancing around her office. "This is better than I thought. Two childhood friends meeting again is so romantic. You need to give me all the details!"

Francis smiled thinking he knew what Elizabeta was trying to do. "Trying to play matchmaker for your boss?"

Elizabeta shook her head. "You misunderstand me. I just enjoy a good gay romance. I couldn't possibly ignore one that's happening right under my nose."

"Just because we are close together doesn't mean there's romance going on."

"I have an eye for these kinds of things. I can tell you guys have something special going on between each other and if two stay just friends I will be very surprised."

Francis crossed his arms and glared at Elizabeta. The girl was persistent but Francis was stubborn and she wouldn't be getting anything out of him anytime soon. The first person that was going to find out about his feelings would be Arthur not Elizabeta. "Why should I tell you anything?"

Elizabeta returned the glare. "It will be easier for both of us if you tell me now."

"Sorry but a no is a no."

Elizabeta pulled out her camera and grinned. "I may not have anything yet, but I might have compromising pictures of you later with Arthur."

"Even the threat of blackmail isn't going to change my mind."

"We'll see about that."

Seeing that the half hour was almost up, Francis turned to leave the office. "I have to go meet up with Ar-someone."

"If you ever need my assistance come and find me," Elizabeta said as Francis left.

A half an hour later on the dot, Francis strolled in Arthur's office. "I hope you're done with your work because the only reason I'm going to leave this office is if we're going out drinking."

Arthur shuffled a few papers together before answering. "I just finished up the last bit so I'm ready to go."

"Then there's no time to waste, let's go!" said Francis as he grabbed at Arthur's arm trying to drag him away.

"Hold on! I need to grab a few things!" Arthur paused to grab his jacket and phone, and then on a whim dialed a certain number.

"Hey Alfred. I'm hanging out with Francis later so you can go straight home. N-No it isn't a date. Bye." Arthur put away his phone and turned to Francis. "Let's go, we'll be taking your car. Before you ask, yes Alfred and I do live together. This because Alfred claims I would be a lonely bastard without him. I personally think he gets lonely if he isn't living with someone."

Laughing Francis started walking out of the office with Arthur in tow. This time he didn't drag Arthur in case Elizabeta decided to show up.

They were later sitting in a bar that a friend of Francis owned. Francis got himself some wine while Arthur got whiskey.

Francis turned to Arthur and said, "Let's take turns asking questions. You go first."

Arthur thought for a few seconds before he asked, "What job did you have before you applied for the job at my company?"

"I didn't have one. My parents were rich so I never really needed to work."

"So what did you do with all of your spare time?"

"My turn. I'll answer your question after you answer mine. However, my question is more like a concern. Should you or I be concerned about a girl named Elizabeta trying to stalk either of us?"

Arthur sighed. "I guess it was too much to think that she would leave you alone."

"You were aware that she might bother me?"

"It was a possibility with you already being close to me, though how she finds out these things is a mystery to me. When Alfred started working here she wouldn't leave him alone about our 'relationship' until he told her that we were like brothers. It would probably be wise just to give her whatever she wants so she'll leave you alone."

Francis nodded and before he could talk again, he was interrupted by the bartender.

"You know Elizabeta! Why didn't you tell me Francis?"

"I just met her today Gilbert. What did she do to you?"

The albino blushed and avoided Francis' gaze. "Nothing. I just met her once and thought she was pretty cool. It's not like I've been stalking her so I could talk to her again, because that isn't something the awesome me would do."

Francis sighed and put his hand on Gilbert's shoulder. "I'll give her your number and try to get hers' if that would make you happy."

"Um…yeah. Thanks," Gilbert said awkwardly. Francis smiled and turned back to Arthur to continue talking and was slightly surprised that Arthur was already drinking his second bottle.

"To answer your earlier question, I sometimes help with Antonio's place with the cooking because I enjoy it. I tend to go to a lot of parties as well, mostly with friends and sometimes for my parents. Here's my question. What do you do in your spare time other than reading and drinking tea?"

Arthur shrugged. "I usually don't have much free time or friends so I usually just stay at my place."

Arthur downed his second bottle, and it was then Francis learned two new things about him. One he had a low tolerance for alcohol, and two he was a terrible drunk. After a few minutes of hearing Arthur talk about everything from politics to fairies he decided to intervene.

"I better get you home."

"I'm..fine. I swear to drunk I'm not god!"

Francis rolled his eyes and paid the bill. He helped Arthur to his feet, also helping him to keep his balance as he they went to his car. Luckily for him Arthur was sober enough to tell him where he lived.

Ten minutes later he parked outside of the, very nice, apartment house that Arthur lived in. After retrieving the apartment number from the drunken man, Francis got in the elevator and hoped Arthur wasn't drunk enough to start barfing.

When they got to the right floor, Arthur managed a few wobbly steps before Francis caught him. Not feeling like searching Arthur for his room key, he knocked on the door and hoped Alfred was awake and home.

He was in luck, as the door opened a few seconds later revealing Alfred. "Should have warned you that he gets drunk easily," Alfred said after he saw the state of Arthur.

Francis handed over Arthur and was about to walk away when Alfred stopped him. "Why don't you stay here for the night? We have a spare room and you could stay for the weekend! It will be like a huge slumber party!"

Francis nodded yes and Alfred shouted yes so loud that they got people yelling at them to be quiet. Francis chuckled as he walked in the apartment. He was happy at the thought of spending a weekend with Arthur as friends.

But Francis didn't want things to stay just as friends. He was hoping something else might happen during the weekend but he kept these thoughts to himself as he walked in Arthur's apartment.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter but I wanted to get something up before school started. Please Review!  
Beta: Lol I enjoyed helping on this chapter quite a bit! Unfortunately since we both have lives outside of writing franfiction, and school just started up, updates will be slower, and (possibly) shorter, ENJOY THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AND FREAKING REVIEW!**


	4. The Almost Date

_The sun was setting on a small village as people were getting ready for the annual fair. Two small figures were sitting on the nearby hill eyeing the villagers with envy. _

"_You don't have to stay with me Francis. You should go to the fair and have some fun," said Arthur._

_Francis shook his head. "I can't do that. What if you got eaten by a bear or something? I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt." Francis turned to Arthur and smiled. "I'd rather be with you anyways."_

_Arthur turned his head to the side so Francis couldn't see his smile. He would never let Francis know that he actually enjoyed spending time with him. _

_Francis looked back at the celebrating people, and the look of longing in his face was so obvious that Arthur felt guilty._

"_We can sneak in if you really wanted to go."_

"_I would consider it, but your parents wouldn't let me see you if you disobeyed their orders." _

_Arthur hugged his knees and started pouting. Francis noticed this and chuckled. _

"_If it really means that much to you to I'll take you to a fair when you're old enough."_

_Arthur looked up and stared at Francis with hope in his eyes. "Promise?"_

"_Promise." Their promise was sealed with pinkie swear as the fireworks started going off._

* * *

"So the reason we're at a fair right now is because you promised to take me to one when we were kids?" Arthur stared at Francis, wondering if this was a joke.

"_Oui_. When I turned on the news this morning, they were talking about this fair. That's when I remembered about the promise we made. So I thought this fair would the perfect thing to do today."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Well I think this is the exact definition of cheesy."

"Sometimes cheesy is good," said Alfred as he butted in their conversation.

"The only reason you're in a good mood is because Matthew is tagging along," Arthur growled.

"Shut up! He's coming over here!"

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Francis. "Let me get this straight. Out of the blue you decided to take me to a fair right after I got over my hangover? Just because of a promise that we made when we were kids. "

Francis nodded. "It's too bad you didn't get over your hangover until it was already pretty late. We won't be able to spend much time at the fair."

Arthur glanced to the side to avoid Francis' gaze when he asked, "How many of our promises do you remember?"

"I would like to think I remember most of them. Of course after this it's your turn to keep of them. I can't be the only one to keep these old promises we made."

"O-Okay." Arthur blushed, thinking about the one promise that he wanted to keep. He was positive Francis wouldn't remember and even if he did, he wouldn't want to keep it.

"Will you two quite flirting with each other! I wanna get some cotton candy," complained Alfred.

"We weren't flirting," yelled Arthur but, as usual, was ignored by Alfred.

"Why don't we split up so you can get cotton candy, and they can do what they want," said Matthew as he pulled on Alfred's sleeve to get his attention.

"Sounds like a great idea" Alfred started dragging Matthew to the cotton candy stand as he yelled, "We'll meet you guys here later before the fireworks start!"

Arthur crossed his arms and said, "So what do you want to do?"

"You should pick what we do. We're at this fair for you after all."

"I'm hungry so we might as well get some food."

"_D'accord_. I saw a decent looking pretzel stand over there."

As the two of them waited in line, they chatted about silly little things. Like their favorite color or when was the best time to have a cup of tea. After they finished their pretzels Francis asked, "So what do you want to do next?"

"Do I really have to pick out everything we do," Arthur mumbled.

"_Oui_."

Arthur looked around to see if there was anything mildly entertaining to do. He noticed a photo booth for couples before looking away, blushing. Looking around he noticed that a lot of the activities were for couples. Trying to find something that didn't involve anything too embarrassing he saw a fortune teller's tent not too far away.

"Why don't we go to the fortune teller?"

Francis nodded and followed Arthur into the tent. The scene that greeted them inside was a frail old lady sitting on a table with a deck of tarot cards sitting in front of her. The candles in the tent didn't reveal much else, giving the tent a creepy, but mystical feel to it.

"Take a seat," the old woman said, indicating the cushions in front of her. "Ask a question and I will read the tarot cards to find your answer."

Francis and Arthur complied with the old women's instructions while she shuffled her cards.

"Whose question will I be answering today?"

"Since you picked you should ask the question," said Francis.

Arthur nodded and tried to think of a question to ask. It didn't take much thought for him to figure out what he wanted to ask. He just needed to figure out a way of asking without Francis getting suspicious. After a few variations, he eventually found a way to ask his question without being too revealing.

"I was wondering how my relationship with a very special person will be in the future," asked Arthur.

The women smiled and laid her deck on the table. Normally she would ask for a more specific definition of who this person was, but she noticed the glances he had been giving to his companion and had figured it out for herself.

"Very well. I will start with the main concern." She placed a card in front of her. "The High Priestess. The problem is how this person feels for you. Your concern is trying to find out the extent of their feelings."

Arthur nodded at the lady showing her to continue. Because of his obsession with the occult, Arthur was taking the tarot reading very seriously.

She put the next card on top of the previous. "Five Pentacles. What's keeping you from solving your mystery is the fear of rejection." The next card was placed down. "Six Pentacles. What's hindering you is the lack of knowledge of their true feelings for you."

Francis glanced over at Arthur and saw the look of concentration on his face and wondered how important the answer to this question was.

The next card went down. "Six cups. You met this person in your childhood and this also where the problem of true feelings started to come into play." Another card was placed on the table between them. "Two Cups. What is constantly on your mind is the affection you have for this person."

Arthur shifted anxiously in his seat, waiting for the next card. The rest he already knew beforehand. The information he wanted to know was now starting to appear.

"Wheel of Fortune. Soon the special destiny you share with this person will become known to both parties." The tent was so quiet only breathing and the slap of the card was heard. "Knight of Wands. This person sees you in both a negative in and a positive way. Sometimes he thinks you're hot-tempered, but other times charming as well."

Arthur didn't pay catch it when the old lady started saying he, but Francis did. Francis wondered how did the lady knew about the gender of the person that Arthur was asking about.

"Ace of Cups. Whenever you're around him you're surrounded by love."

Arthur leaned in closer so he wouldn't miss the crucial advice of the next card. "Page of Swords. Be truthful with your emotions even when you think it will only cause more harm than good."

His palms were sweaty. This was it. The last card that told him how everything would work out between him and Francis.

The old lady put down the last card with a smile on her face. "Lovers. The relationship between you two will evolve into something more beautiful than it already is."

Arthur smiled. There was no doubt about the last card especially with the question he had asked. He felt like dancing around the tent and expressing the happiness that was filling him.

Francis stifled a laugh at the end of the fortune telling. To him it was very cheesy and he thought the old lady might have loaded the deck to get that result. He was about to ask Arthur if he got a good laugh out of it when he saw that Arthur was happy. Not happy because it was humorous but because the fortune itself made him glad.

It was then Francis realized that Arthur took the fortune teller seriously. Not only that but he cared deeply for that person he asked about. Francis couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy. Arthur was happy at the prospect of being in a relationship with somebody other than himself. He yearned to tell Arthur how much better he was then this guy, but kept his mouth shut.

"H-How much do you want," said Arthur after he came back to reality.

The women winked at him and said, "For you nothing. My payment will be the thought you being happy with the person you care so deeply about."

"Thank you." Arthur exited the tent with Francis following close behind him. The lady back in the tent put the cards back in her deck and continued to smile. Even without her cards she could tell that those two would end up together. She chuckled as she remembered the look of jealousy of the one boy after he realized that the fortune telling wasn't a joke to his friend. "The irony of this world is strange sometimes," she said as the flap of her tent closed.

After they exited the tent, Arthur was going to ask Francis what he wanted to do next. He stopped when he saw the look on his face. Francis looked angry but also sad at the same time. He stood their looking at Francis wondering what made him so upset.

When they walked outside the tent, Francis made a resolution that he would win Arthur's heart before he went off to that mystery person. "Why don't we go into the horror house," he asked, not really caring if they went or not. Francis just wanted to do something to keep his mind off the emotions that were running through his head.

Arthur nodded and followed Francis silently, wanting to ask him what was wrong. He didn't know what was eating Francis, but he didn't want to bug him too much. So he settled for following Francis, all the while wishing he could comfort Francis.

When they got to the house of horrors there was a long line, so they were going to have to wait for a while. While Arthur was ecstatic about his tarot reading but there was one small problem on his mind.

"So I heard you have a girlfriend," said Arthur while trying to be nonchalant as possible.

Arthur's question interrupted Francis thoughts of formulating a plan to get Arthur to fall head over heels in love with him before he ended up with the other guy. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Arthur blushed realizing just how awkward his question was. But he wanted an answer and there was no way he was backing off now. "I was just asking about your girlfriend."

"Oh. We broke up this morning over the phone. She didn't take the idea too well that I wanted to have a threesome with her brother."

Arthur stared at Francis with a look of shock on his face. "So you thought she would be okay with having a threesome with her brother?"

Francis shrugged. "Considering that's how I met her I didn't think she would. But apparently she didn't want to have to compete with her brother."

"Sorry to hear that." That's what Arthur said out loud. On in the inside he was jumping up and down for joy that Francis was his for the taking.

After this they started an argument about whose football team was better. Their argument was cut off when it was their turn to go inside.

They both walked into the horror house prepared for the worse. However they were disappointed. The supposed horrors made them want to laugh more than scream in terror. On top of that everything looked incredibly cheesy. Francis was mostly upset that he couldn't comfort Arthur if he got scared.

Just as they were exiting the house of horror, they saw something rather comical. Alfred was curled up in a ball with Matthew rubbing his back soothingly and telling him everything was okay.

"Uh…what happened here," Francis asked thinking maybe somebody kicked Alfred in the balls.

Arthur knew exactly what happened and started laughing. "You got scared from this? You are such a baby sometimes!"

Alfred poked his head out and replied, "S-Shut up! It was really scary in there!"

"Of course it was," Matthew said while he continued to comfort Alfred.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Anyways, the fireworks are starting soon. We should all start heading towards someplace where we can see them." Eventually they were able to coax Alfred out of his ball, and walked out of the House of Horrors.

They bought some candy apples and started heading out towards a hill where there was a great view of the fireworks. They found the perfect spot where they had complete solitude and a good view.

"So what did you guys do earlier," Alfred asked after he had come back to his usual self.

"We went to a fortune teller. What about you," said Arthur, not noticing Francis' pained look at the mention of the fortune teller.

"We did one of this couple photo booth thingies."

"Only after you were done stuffing your face with cotton candy," Matthew teased.

A boom and a flash of light announced the start of the fireworks show. After seeing Alfred and Matthew cuddling, Francis decided it was time to put his plan into action.

He oh-so-casually scooted closer to Arthur and placed his arm behind his back.

When Francis scooted closer to him, Arthur's heart almost skipped a beat. When Francis' arm went behind his back, Arthur was positive he was having cardiac arrest. He was so close that he could smell his cologne, which didn't help his heart rate. Once the beating of his heart finally returned to normal, he decided to make his own move.

Arthur leaned over and laid his head on Francis' shoulder. When Francis didn't shrug him off, he relaxed.

With Arthur's head on his shoulder, Francis was smiling with victory. His plan had worked after all! Francis pulled Arthur closer and rested his hand on Arthur's hip.

They continued to watch the rest of the fireworks like that. Arthur was pretty sure that was the best fireworks show he had ever seen.

It wasn't until he heard a cough, did Arthur remember they weren't alone. He looked over and saw Alfred with the smuggest look on his face. He would have gone over and punched it right of his face, but he would have to stop cuddling with Francis. So instead he settled for a glare.

"We better be heading home, it's getting late," said Matthew after the fireworks show ended.

Francis nodded and reluctantly let go of Arthur. The walk back towards their cars was silent between Francis and Arthur. Neither of them wanted to talk. Francis was still thinking about this 'other guy' and Arthur was still on his high of being that close to Francis.

When they were back at the cars, they both didn't want to depart right away. "Why don't I drive you back to give Alfred and Matthew some time alone," said Francis.

That wasn't what he wanted to say. He really wanted to just say he wanted to spend more time together and if possible say what had been on his mind for so long.

Arthur nodded and got into Francis' car. However, for both of them having stuff they wanted to say, the ride back was silent.

When they got back to the apartment complex, Arthur unbuckled and opened his door. "Um…thanks for the ride and taking me to the fair. It was fun."

"Oui. We should definitely hang out again sometime soon."

There was an awkward silence as Arthur was waited, hoping he would get a kiss goodbye making this an official date. Seeing that wasn't happening, Arthur just got out of the car.

As Arthur walked out of the door, it took everything Francis had to not rush after him and kiss him goodnight. "Friends don't do that," Francis reminded himself bitterly. As he drove away he wondered if there would ever be a time they could be more than friends.

**A/N: Yeah! Super-duper long chapter! Sorry this took so long to come up but having 4 AP classes and Marching Band just takes up your time. The whole tarot reading was based off a website so apologies if it's inaccurate. The cards and the meanings I gave for them is just a way that those cards can be interrupted depending on the question asked. No idea when I'll update considering I'm busy, but I hope it will be soon! **

**P.S. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes. My beta hasn't for a while so I decided to post this without anyways. **


	5. Doubt

The TV was blaring but Arthur didn't care. He was more concerned about the inner turmoil that he was feeling right now. So, now he was under a bunch of blankets in his living room, trying not to cry. Since the sky was crying, he didn't think he needed to add his tears as well.

"Jessie, please don't go! I can't imagine life without you. Please, I love you."

"I love you too Ashley but I have to go. I'll return to you as soon as I can. This isn't permanent."

Arthur tried to block the sounds of the protagonist making out with his love interest. He though that a good action movie would keep his mind off things. He had forgotten that there was always romance.

Arthur closed his eyes to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out. Even without the movie his thoughts had been on love the entire evening. Or more like his failed love life.

"Idiot! Why didn't you kiss Francis when you had the chance? He probably thinks you hate him now."

_'Stop thinking about yesterday! Think about happier times between the two of you.' _Arthur searched for an appropriate memory when the first thing that came up on his mind was another childhood promise. However, this promise was THE promise.

_Francis was in their secret tree house reading a magazine. Completely sucked into what he was reading, he didn't notice Arthur coming up. Arthur walked behind Francis and looked over his shoulder._

"_So what are you reading?" Arthur asked._

"_Something I found under my dad's bed. Its full of these pictures of people having sex," Francis responded and flipped to the next page._

"_What is sex?" Arthur was confused, having not heard the term before._

"_It's something that two people do together. It's supposed to feel good and only adults can do it." Francis explained, still looking at it._

"_Why only adults?"_

_Francis shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It's a grown up thing."_

_Arthur sat beside Francis as they continued to look through the magazine. "Is this all that adults do together?"_

_Francis shook his head. "They do other things. Like hold hands and kiss. Stuff you see your parents do."_

_Francis closed the magazine, laid down, and stared at the floor. Arthur joined him and asked, "What's the matter?"_

"_When I watch people that are together they look so happy. I want to feel the happiness they do but everyone keeps on telling me I'm too young." Arthur didn't like it that Francis looked so sad, so he tried to think of a way to solve the problem. _

"_Is it possible for two guys to do that stuff together?" Arthur asked thinking he found a solution._

_Francis nodded. "It is. Although it isn't as common, I have seen two boys together before."_

"_Then I'll make you a promise. When we're adults we'll do that stuff together!"_

_Francis stared at Arthur for a few seconds before answering. "You sure?"_

_Arthur nodded and held out his hand prepared to do their secret hands shake to seal the deal, but Francis had a different idea. _

"_How about we kiss instead?"_

"_But don't only adults do that?"_

"_Yes, but we'll only kiss for a little while. It won't hurt anyone." _

_Arthur nodded and stood up while Francis followed suit. Francis inched closer to Arthur's face. Before he lost his nerve, Francis kissed Arthur. It only lasted a few seconds, but it made them feel like they'd grown up just a bit more. _

Arthur smiled for a few seconds when he thought back on that memory. Thinking of his childhood was refreshing for him. Then his anxiety came back to him full throttle.

He pulled the blankets back over his head and tried to ignore the sick feeling he had in his stomach. He couldn't help but think of yesterday and how nice it was at the firework show to be beside Francis. But his nerves took a turn for the worst when he was reminded of the car ride home.

"I need to take matters into my own hands," Arthur said aloud to no one in particular. Pushing the covers off his head, he started pacing around his living room. He needed to do something to speed the relationship up between the two of them, he just couldn't decide what.

He could bring up their earlier promise but that might weird Francis out. That's when it hit him. He had promised Francis earlier that he would keep the next promise.

If he acted like he was keeping a previous promise he could slowly spring the idea of the two of them dating on Francis. He scrambled for a promise when he remembered one that might help them out.

It was when they used to watch the boats go out to sea and Francis wished he could go on one of them one day. Arthur said when he got his pirate ship he would bring him along. He might not be able to find a pirate ship but his father had a boat that would have to do.

Arthur grabbed his coat, deciding to visit the dock to make sure the boat was in a good, useable condition. Leaving the house Arthur was finally smiling.

* * *

Francis was sitting at a table in Antonio's restaurant staring out the window looking like he was depressed with life.

Seeing that Francis was more down than usual, various members of the restaurant tried to cheer him up. Antonio sat across from him and just started talking, hoping that would cure everything.

"Hey _amigo_ you shouldn't look so down. There are so many wonderful things in life that you're missing because you're being all grumpy. Like how wonderful the food tastes here, or how pretty the trees are outside. You know what you need to do? How about taking a walk! You can go around and see all the pretty things around and get some exercise at the same time! Isn't that a great idea?"

Antonio would have continued but eventually Romano pointed it out that Francis wasn't listening to him at all. This caused Gilbert to intervene because someone as awesome as him could solve this problem.

He sat in the seat across Francis and ordered a beer. "You know what you need? A beer. Go on and drink it." Gilbert pushed the beer in front of Francis who ignored it. "Fine. If you're not going to drink it I will." Gilbert downed the beer in a couple of gulps and ordered another.

"I'm serious about drinking the beer. It really will help. Plus this beer is specially awesome I'm sure you wouldn't want to waste it." Francis just continued to ignore him. "Fine I guess I'll drink this awesome beer because you're too much of a pansy to handle it."

This process continued to repeat itself until Francis had a very drunk Gilbert in front of him. A few minutes later Ludwig came to pick him up, and Francis continued to stare out the window looking all melodramatic.

Surprisingly the one to cheer him up was Romano. When Romano was asked later he claimed it wasn't because he was feeling compassionate at all. The only reason he helped was because he got annoyed by him staring out the window and not ordering anything at all.

Romano sat across Francis and asked, "So what's eating you?"

Francis dragged his eyes away from the window and looked at Romano in surprise because someone finally asked him what the matter was instead of trying to keep his mind off things. Even though he knew Antonio and Gilbert had good intentions, sometimes his friends' way of dealing with things just couldn't solve the issue.

"Arthur doesn't love me because he's in love with someone else." Francis said miserably, looking out into the gloomy afternoon.

Romano glared at Francis wondering how it came to be that he was surrounded by idiots. "Of course he fucking loves you. I saw you two when you brought him over for lunch. There is no way he doesn't love you."

"And what makes you think that he loves me?"

"You guys remind me of my brother and his disgusting potato-eating, bastard boyfriend. When they're together it's almost like they're in their own world. Constantly looking at each other, gravitating toward each other subconsciously, and all that gross crap. So you need to march right over to that guy's house and take him back."

"Well…I can't exactly do that. You see, we were never together in the first place."

"Then that's your problem. You guys aren't dating so you don't think that he loves you when he obviously does. You need to solve your problem by asking him out the next second you see him. And if you're still worried about that other guy I can offer a onetime deal to take him out for you." Romano glared, crossing his arms.

"That's…um nice and all but I don't know who this guy is."

"Then how do you know this person even exists? If you say you just assumed that this person existed I'm going to hit you."

Francis then explained about the fortune telling. He explained of how Arthur asked about a special person and how this person had to be of someone he loved because he was happy when the cards said he was going to marry that person.

"OW!" Francis stared at Romano, holding his wounded head after Romano had whacked him with a spoon. "I thought you were only going to hit me if I made the person up!"

"You did make him up! How do you know that he wasn't asking about you and just had a cryptic way of asking so you didn't find out he was asking about you!"

Francis stared into space before it hit him. "You mean Arthur could have been asking that fortune teller about me?" Romano nodded his head tensely, his patience slowly wearing thin.

France felt like a burden was lifted off his shoulders. He was finally able to stop worrying because the person he was jealous of had been him all along. At least he hoped. The only way he could confirm this would be to ask him personally.

"Thank you Romano. You actually helped me." Francis got up to exit the restaurant, but turned to whisper in Romano's ear. "Because you helped me I'm going to give you a bit of advice. Today is a beautiful day to propose to someone. So if I were you I would finally use that ring you've been keeping in your pocket for the last week."

Francis turned to exit the restaurant leaving a blushing Romano behind him. "It's official I'm surrounded by love-struck idiots," he mumbled while toying with a box in his pocket. He sighed and looked out the window. "And sometimes I think I'm the biggest one."

**A/N: Again apologies for taking so long. Updates will be coming up sooner now that the marching band season is finally ending so I will have some time to actually write.**

**Beta: Yo! Amen to that sister! Had my last competition last night, so I'm feeling awesome~ even if I have two band rehearsals on Monday... ^.^" Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed this wonderful chapter of Childhood Promises! **


	6. A Boat Ride

When Francis walked into work that day he stopped at Elizabeta's office first. Seeing that she wasn't in he left Gilbert's number on the desk along with a note explaining that it was a number from a guy that liked her and she should call him. He was on his way to Arthur's office when he ran into Alfred.

"Hey Francis excited for tonight?" said Alfred.

"What's happening tonight?" asked Francis.

Alfred suddenly got a panicked look on his face. "Shit! He didn't tell you yet- and it was supposed to be a surprise!" Alfred tried to run away but Francis grabbed onto him to keep him from escaping.

"What's supposed to be a surprise?"

"You'll know eventually. If I say anymore Arthur will kill me!"

Francis reluctantly let go of Alfred and continued walking to Arthur's office. He was about to head in when he saw someone else in the office. Seeing that he looked like a business associate he decided to get working and talk to Arthur later.

Whenever he had a chance he tried to go and see Arthur. But every time he tried to visit him, he was either busy with an associate or just not there all together. At the end of the day Francis starting going towards Arthur's office determined to talk to him even if someone else was there. And if he wasn't there he would wait in his office till he came back.

On the way to Arthur's office he got stopped by Elizabeta. "I just wanted to say thanks for the number you left me. I've been wanting to contact him for a while now. So thanks to you I have a date tonight as well. Have a nice evening!"

And with that Elizabeta twirled around and walked away. _Now I really want to know what's going to happen tonight_; he thought to himself as he continued heading towards Arthur's office. He knocked on the door and strode right in without a response.

"Arthur you need to apologize. I'm being trying to visit you all day but you've either been busy or missing. Plus with Alfred and Elizabeta talking I would really like to know what's going to go on tonight."

Arthur was in the middle of putting his coat on when he saw Francis standing in his doorway. "I'm sorry. I wasn't doing that on purpose. Today was just a busy day so I had a lot of errands to run along with seeing some important business people." Before continuing on Arthur looked to the side and started blushing. "And about tonight I've been meaning to talk to you, but I haven't had time. Remember earlier when you were talking about how I needed to keep some of our promises now? So I decided this weekend to keep two of the promises we made. I made arrangements tonight for a boat ride, just the two of us."

Francis blinked at Arthur for a few seconds. "Refresh my memory, but since did one of our promises involve a boat ride?"

"Well it wasn't exactly a boat ride promise. It was more like I promised that when I became a pirate I would take you with me on my adventures."

"And the second promise?"

"That's a secret. Anyways we better get going. I would like to start sailing before the sun goes down." Arthur started walking out of the office with Francis following behind him.

"Can I get a hint for the second one?"

"No and I'll be driving."

* * *

A few hours later Francis and Arthur were standing next to a sailboat. "I know she's not as grand as a pirate ship, but she was the best I could get at such short of a notice.

"I didn't know you knew how to sail a ship."

"I didn't till yesterday." Arthur got onto the sailboat while Francis stayed rooted to the spot. When he noticed that Francis wasn't following, he asked, "Well, aren't you coming?"

"You just learned to sail yesterday and you expect me to join you? You'll be lucky if you don't crash into a rock or wind up lost!"

Arthur shook his head. "This is a beginner boat so it's easier to sail. Plus this lake isn't too big so we can't get lost that easy. Just trust me." Arthur held out his hand for Francis.

Francis stared at the hand and reluctantly took it and got on board. Arthur untied the boat from the dock and set sail.

"So where are we going?" Francis asked.

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "Just somewhere we can have some peace and quiet. I brought some dinner so I thought we could eat that."

"Did you make it?" Francis teased, smiling as he settled down.

Arthur sighed. "No. I didn't have time to make anything. So instead I bought some sandwiches, wine, and croissants because I remember you used to like them a lot."

Francis faked a sigh of relief. "Good. I don't think that having a stomach ache from your cooking would make this boat ride very pleasant."

Arthur gaped at Francis. "How did you find about my bad cooking?"

"Alfred told me about your culinary skills. Well it was more like a warning. He told me if you ever offered me some of your cooking that I should politely refuse or my death shall be slow and prolonged."

When he saw Arthur's depressed look he laughed at him. "I was just teasing. If you made me something I would eat it anyways even if it would be the cause of my untimely death."

"Really?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

"Of course. I think the fact that you can't cook is cute." Francis chuckled at the blush that formed across Arthur's face.

They started eating their dinner at sunset when they found a place where they could be all alone without any disturbance. It wasn't too hard considering how big the lake actually was and since it was late there were less people boating.

As they spent time with each other they felt all alone in the world and utterly at peace. No pressure from work, or chaos from friends trying to push them together, or the pains of jealously. It was only when the sun had set and they lay down to stargaze that Francis decided to bring up the second promise again.

Francis turned to Arthur and asked, "You plan on telling me about that second promise yet?"

Arthur sat up and stared at some random spot in the sky. He did this for a while before he finally got the nerve to talk. "This promise is a little different than the other one. Whether we go through with this one depends if you want to."

"I'm listening." Francis frowned, leaning forward slightly.

Arthur paused for a second before continuing. "I promised you that when we would get older that we would start dating." His voice got really quiet before he continued talking. "I was hoping that we could start dating. Of course only if you wa-."

Francis cut Arthur off by kissing him softly on the lips. Francis broke off the kiss and smiled at him. "Arthur, nothing would make me happier in the world than to date you."

Arthur hesitated a bit before saying, "I love you."

"_Je t'aime aussi ma cheri_."

They kissed again with each others hands in their hair. The next half hour was spent with them kissing and whispering how much they loved each other.

"Did you remember that promise before I talked about it today?" asked Arthur.

"I did," Francis replied. "I thought about it every day, hoping that one day I would be able to meet you again. The only reason I didn't say anything was because I didn't know if you liked me. I was convinced you only liked me as a friend."

Arthur smacked Francis lightly on the head. "You doubt yourself too much. Next time you're not sure about my feelings for you come straight to me."

"I will. As long as you don't go to a fortune-teller to find out about how our relationship will be in the future."

Arthur blushed. "So you found out about that."

"Yeah. One of my friends figured it out and told me."

It was quiet for a few seconds before Arthur said, "You want to screw with Alfred and Elizabeta tomorrow."

"How?'

"Just be really vague of how last night went and when we're leaving work tell them how it went, and leave quickly so they can't question us."

"Sounds like a plan," Francis said. They kissed again, finally at peace with each other.

**A/N:** **"Je t'aime trop ma chérie."**** I love you too. This story will only have the epilogue and then it will be done. The next chapter should be up soon because it is now thanksgiving break. Hope you had a good thanksgiving!**

**Beta: I wish it wasn't almost over! It's been so much fun betaing for this story! Y'all have been great readers too!**


	7. Epilogue

Two weeks later Arthur's birthday party was being celebrated at Antonio's restaurant. Arthur didn't want to have a big fuss for his birthday but Francis insisted. Well more like forced.

He sprang the idea of a party onto Arthur two days before his birthday. Arthur had to reluctantly accept when Francis said how many people were already coming. So in the end he reluctantly accepted the existence of his birthday party.

The invite list included Alfred, Matthew, Antonio, Lovino, Gilbert, Elizabeta, Feliciano, and Ludwig. The party was intended to be low on the alcohol, considering the issues that could arise if a bunch of them got drunk. Of course that didn't matter when Gilbert brought a bunch of booze with him to the party anyway.

Arthur tried to start drinking but was stopped by Francis. "You can't get drunk until most of the party is done so I don't have to bring you home early."

So Arthur tried to spend most of his time in secluded spots. But each time his absence was noticed so he was dragged back to the life of the party.

When Arthur was dragged back for the third time, Feliciano started debating whether they should start opening presents. "Should we do presents or something else? I want to see Arthur's reaction when he opens my present. But I want to play truth or dare! We have to be careful with the dares, because if you dare Antonio to kiss someone Lovino will bite their heads off. And we shouldn't ask weird question in case someone doesn't want to answer it and no longer has any fun. If we're playing truth or dare, I should go first. Quick someone give me a dare!"

"I dare you to start making out with Ludwig," said Elizabeta as she started pulling out her camera.

"Okay!" Feliciano immediately attacked the surprised Ludwig. Lovino tried to get his brother away from Ludwig but Antonio stopped him.

"But we can kiss _fratello_! We're going to get married after all!" Feliciano protested.

Both Antonio and Feliciano had to hold back Lovino this time. "What did you do to Feliciano to convince him to marry you? If I found out you tortured him I'll castrate you!" Lovino screamed at Ludwig.

"You can't castrate him! How else are we supposed to have sex?" Feliciano asked, confused.

Lovino's string of curse words and threats were stopped only when he was convinced that Ludwig wasn't raping his brother.

"We should start opening the presents now..." Francis suggested after the ruckus died down.

"You should open my present first because I'm the hero!" said Alfred as he practically threw his present in Arthur's face.

Arthur opened the present and stared at it in amazement. "How did you get this album? It's incredibly rare!"

Alfred had a huge grin on his face. "I have my ways."

Matthew gave him a book that he had been wanting for a long time. Elizabeta surprised everyone and didn't give him a sex toy. Instead she gave him a large variety of teas to try out.

Antonio and Lovino gave him some tomatoes claiming he needed to eat something other than scones. Gilbert gave him booze that he wasn't allowed to drink till tomorrow because of how strong it was.

Feliciano would have given him pasta but Ludwig convinced him that not everybody wants pasta for their birthday. Instead he gave him a painting that he painted himself. Ludwig gave him a knife claiming you never knew when you needed one.

Francis handed Arthur a small box. Arthur raised an eyebrow at Francis. "If you're giving me another necklace, I'm flattered but last time I checked I'm not a girl."

Francis chuckled. "It's not a necklace trust me. Just open it up."

Arthur did just that and was amazed at what he saw. Inside the box was a dragon figurine. But this wasn't any old dragon figurine. This was one that he had been searching for, for a very long time.

_Arthur had been staring at the shelf for almost a half an hour. But how could he not? Right in front of him was the most ferocious and realistic dragon figurine he had ever seen. He felt like if he stared at it long enough, that it would start moving and attack him. _

"_Are you staring at that statue again?"_

"_It's not just a plain statue Francis." Arthur said with all the seriousness a child could muster. "It's the most amazing statue in the world. See? If you look close enough you can see each individual scale! This must have taken months to make by hand."_

"_Then why don't you buy it instead of coming all the way out here just to look at it?" _

_Arthur sighed. "My parents won't buy it for me. They claim it isn't a good investment. They think instead of spending money on some statue I should get a book to enrich my education."_

_Francis patted Arthur on the back. "Don't worry when you're older you can buy it yourself. Your parents won't be able to say a thing."_

_Arthur turned to Francis and smiled. "You know what? That's what I'm going to do!"_

"How did you get this?" Arthur picked up the dragon and stared at it.

"It wasn't easy. When I checked up the original store it had already been bought. Thankfully he kept records with who he sold it to. From that point the ownership changed hands a few times. When I eventually found the current owner they were willing to sell it to me. They had gotten the statue from the passing of their late grandmother and since it had no value to them so I was able to buy it."

Arthur hugged Francis. "Thank you. This really means a lot to me."

"So are we going to get the background story on that statue?" asked Elizabeta with the usual glint in her eyes.

"No. I don't feel like sharing that information with you just so you can put it in your blog." Arthur frowned.

"Do you know Gilbert?" said Elizabeta as she turned to a new possible source of information.

"Yes but I'm not allowed to share that information with you." he replied in a shaky voice, afraid.

"But what if I…" Elizabeta started, continuing to whisper in Gilbert's ear.

"It's a dragon statue that Arthur wanted when he was a kid but couldn't get it because his parents wouldn't buy it for him." Gilbert gushed out to please Elizabeta.

"Using sex isn't a very moral way to get answers..." Arthur glowered, as he threw a fry at Gilbert's head.

"Yes but it is very effective~" Elizabeta grinned as she rubbed Gilbert's leg.

"Can you keep that promise now?" Gilbert whined.

"But honey, we need to go home for that. Plus it won't as fun without the bunny costume or cuffs." Elizabeta cooed, effectively grossing us out, still stroking his leg.

"And here I thought Francis was bad..." Arthur mumbled, looking away with a blush on his face.

Francis kissed the grumbling Brit on the cheek. "Yes, but you love it."

* * *

It was before lunchtime that Francis visited Arthur's office, after politely knocking on the door. He learned that after Arthur threw a book at his head that barging in wasn't always the best option.

"Arthur we need to talk about me working here. My job happens to be an absolutely painful and boring job. As you are aware, I don't need to work so you need to make a decision. Either you give me a slightly more entertaining job and an office, or I'm going to quit."

"So you think threatening to quit will earn you a promotion? Nice try but that's not going to work. I don't need you to make my company run." Arthur shot back.

"But don't you enjoy my company? I thought you appreciated me brightening your day." Francis frowned, leaning against the desk.

"If you mean barging into my room every hour just because you're bored then no, I don't appreciate you 'brightening' my day." Arthur frowned, trying to get back to his paperwork.

"You'll be lonely without me though. I keep you company throughout the day."

"Believe it or not you're not the only person I talk to in this building. I was just fine before you joined this company."

Francis snorted. "So who else would you talk to? Elizabeta? Last time I checked, every time she's near you she starts asking questions about the last date we had or details about our sex life. And every time you talk to Alfred I feel like you're going to bite the kids head off."

"I'll have you know that I have other people to talk to than just those two." Arthur replied, flustered.

"Who is this other person that would be willing to socialize with you in this building?" Francis asked, smirking.

"Ivan." Arthur replied quickly.

Francis laughed. "Yeah right. I see you try and talk to him and it's painful. You're so afraid he's going to ask to become one with him that you barely even speak to him."

There was silence for a few minutes before Arthur finally bent. "Fine. I admit it with you here I am a little less lonely. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to give you a promotion out of the blue. You're going to have to earn it first."

"_D'accord. _So will a blowjob do?" Francis murmured, leaning in closer.

Arthur swung his stapler at Francis' head. "I wasn't meaning that you sex obsessed wanker! I was talking about your job performance."

Francis rubbed the top of his head where the stapler hit him. "So what do you have in mind since sex isn't appealing to you?"

Arthur crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. "Since you get your work done there isn't any problem there. However there is one issue that you present in this company. Luckily it has an easy solution."

"And what is that?" Francis asked sarcastically, frowning and crossing his arms. He leaned away just a little in case Arthur decided to hit him with the stapler again... just in case...

"You can only visit my office two times a day before lunch. And after lunch visitation will be limited to three times until we leave."

"How does me visiting you affect my work if I get all my work done?" Francis demanded, incredulous.

"I didn't say it affected you. You visiting me 20 times a day slows me down tremendously. If I don't get all my work done that's a bigger problem than you slacking. It's either that or I increase your work load."

"Fine. You may have doubts about me but I can handle this."

"We'll see about that."

Not only did Francis later get his promotion with more interesting work and an actual office, but he managed to work himself up higher than that. Eventually he was the vice-president of Arthur's company.

Of course Arthur gave him this position because Francis still complained about being bored half the time. So instead of bugging him half the day he gave him a job that would actually keep him busy. Much to his disappoint he found out later that he still got most of his work done and still bugged him on a regular basis. But now as a consequence he started bringing Alfred with him.

"As the vice-president and president of this company don't you two have anything else to do?"

"But we do _mon cher_! We're entertaining you so you don't die of boredom from your dull job!"

* * *

Matthew and Arthur were sitting together alone. They were waiting for Alfred and Francis to get ingredients for dinner but they were taking a long time.

"What is taking them so long?" asked Arthur.

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know maybe they got lost on the way."

"Knowing them that's a possibility."

There was silence for a few seconds. "You never did tell me about the significance of those necklaces you and Francis have. Why don't you tell me to pass the time?"

Arthur shrugged. "Sure."

_Arthur and Francis' were on a vacation together with their families. The talk bored the two boys, so their parents gave them some money and told them to buy something. With their parent's money in hand, they left to visit some local shops. _

_They'd been looking for a while when they found a shop with stuff they found utterly fascinating._

"_Look at this jar! It's got an eyeball in it!" Arthur exclaimed, as he was staring at a jar that looked like it had three spleens and two tiny eyeballs._

"_Not as cool as this sword! It looks like the swords in the medieval movies," said Francis pointing at a two handed sword hanging on the wall. _

_Both of the boys were looking around in the shop, gazing at everything interesting in the store. They were searching for something to buy when they finally saw something that they're parents wouldn't kill them for buying._

"_How about we get these necklaces? There are some with dragons, sharks, and some swords as well," said Arthur when he noticed the case with necklaces in them. _

_Francis looked at the rows of necklace before he picked one out that he liked. "I like this one with the sword and the blue gem in the center."_

_Arthur stared at the necklaces for a few minutes then finally sighed. "I can't decide which one I want."_

"_How about you get the one like mine, but with a green gem in the center. We can wear the same kinds of necklaces like a friendship bracelet."_

"_But isn't that girly?"_

"_No it isn't. These are necklaces not bracelets. Plus they have swords on them. That makes it manly."_

"_Alright. I'll buy it!"_

"So we bought them, and after that never took them off until we switched them when Francis moved away."

A few seconds later Francis and Alfred came in walking through the door. They looked they were ready to fall asleep on their feet.

"So what happened?" Matthew asked.

"The parking lot for the store was full so we had to drive around for 30 minutes before we found a parking space which happened to be the farthest one away from the store. Then it took forever to buy everything because the lines were super long," whined Alfred as he laid face down in the couch cushions.

"Well that's your fault for waiting till the last minute to go shopping on a Saturday." Arthur grinned.

"Well you could have helped us..." Francis sighed as he put the bags on the counter.

"And miss having tea with Matthew and not having to do anything at all? That would have been exhausting!" replied Arthur.

"Sometimes you make me want to throw you out a window..." Francis mused as he glared at Arthur.

"Don't worry, the feelings are returned." Arthur replied, grinning as be hugged Francis from behind and kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

Alfred was on his knees trying to get a favor from Arthur. "Please! This will be the last time I swear!"

Arthur shook his head. "That's what you said last time. I can't always help you out. You need to do this on your own."

Alfred whimpered. "But can't do it all by myself. Every time I'm alone with Matthew I don't know what to say or do."

"Not true. When we went to the fair together you were alone with Matthew."

"Yeah, but I spent most of that time eating. I just need one more date with you there. Then I'll have enough confidence to be able to go on a date with him alone."

"No is no. Last time was the last time. Just do what you usually do and talk about the newest Walking Dead episode. Now go back to work."

Alfred got up and dragged himself out of the office. Arthur went back to working himself. 30 minutes later Francis was walking into his office.

"We're going on a double date with Alfred and Matthew later today."

Arthur put his head in his hands. "I thought we made a decision that we weren't going on double dates with Alfred and Matthew anymore."

"Yes, but Alfred seemed so sad. He promised he only needed one more date and he would be able to do it on his own."

"That's what he said last time. We'll be having double dates with them forever at this rate."

"What's the matter with that? We like both of them so I don't see the issue."

"I'm tired of spending all of our dates with them. I just want to spend time together, alone."

Francis went around Arthur's desk and hugged him. "You finally admit wanting to spend time with me! Although I appreciate you wanting to spend time with me alone, we have an obligation towards helping their romance along."

"Why do we need to help them?"

"Because they helped us. Alfred helped our relationship start with a double date. So we owe it to them."

"The fair really wasn't a date."

"At the beginning no. But because they left us alone for a while it eventually became a date. They could have hung out with us the entire time and it would have just been friends hanging out."

Arthur sighed. "Fine. But this is the last time I will go on a double date with them. The next time you're going to be a third wheel."

"Deal."

"So did Alfred say where he planned on going?"

"Um…No. He was wondering if we could find out somewhere to go."

Arthur groaned. "Typical. He leaves everything up to us."

"How about having dinner then going to see a movie afterwords?"

Arthur thought for a few seconds then shook his head. "No I have a better idea. How about we go eat dinner in the beginning? Then afterwords going to a park."

"Why a park instead of a movie? Alfred will be more comfortable going to a movie."

"That's because he won't have to talk to Matthew at the movies. This way if we go to the park after we eat dinner he will be loosened up, and will talk to Matthew freely. Doing this we might be able to get rid of having to go on double dates with Matthew and Alfred."

"Well it will help improve their relationship. I guess we'll try it."

A couple of hours later after work everyone was at a restaurant that wasn't Antonio's for a change. This disappointed both Francis who wanted to go to the same restaurant and Alfred who was hoping that change meant fast food. Instead they were at a restaurant that they actually hadn't been to.

They went to a local Thai restaurant instead. This was Arthur's idea because he heard Matthew saying how he wanted to go for a while. This was one part of his plan so Matthew and Alfred would have a wonderful date, and so they could stop having double dates.

The plan was that since Matthew got to go where he wanted to go he would be happier. A happier Matthew would talk more. This would cover up the fact that Alfred was too nervous to talk to Matthew.

Eventually Alfred would start talking to Matthew on his own accord. Arthur was hoping this would happen during the dinner so they could leave them alone in the park. Once Alfred realized he could have a date with Matthew alone the need for double dating would disappear.

Of course nothing went like he wanted it to during the actual date. Yes Matthew was happy because they went to where he wanted to go. But as usual he didn't talk much. Alfred did talk but that was only with his mouth full of food. Eating food was relaxing his nerves so he could talk during the date, but he wasn't going to be eating the entire time.

Arthur was getting so worried that his plan wasn't going to work that Francis noticed it.

"Relax," he whispered. "You're acting more nervous than Alfred and he's the one who should be worried, not you."

"I really want this to work out. I'm worried that Matthew might start getting bored of Alfred," Arthur whispered back.

"Who could ever get bored with Alfred?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and went back to his worrying. He was honestly worried about their relationship status. Alfred did keep many friends with his annoying attitude that he tended to have. He didn't want to see his broken heart because things didn't work out with Matthew.

The dinner was done and they started heading toward the park. It was a nice evening to go to since it had been a warm day and the sun being down cooled the park down to a comfortable temperature.

At first the four of them were walking together. Then Francis started holding Arthur back.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked.

"It's time to leave them alone," Francis replied, looking at them.

"But they aren't ready to be left alone yet. They need to start talking to each other."

"But they are relaxed with each other. Even though they aren't exchanging words everything is fine. They're completely relaxed with each other so they'll be okay on their own, trust me."

Then the gap between them grew bigger and bigger. After a while Francis and Arthur stopped walking all together.

"I'll guess they'll be fine together..." Arthur said reluctantly, watching Matthew and Alfred walk off in the distance.

He smiled as they started holding hands. It was good to see Alfred finally find someone that was good for him.

Francis grabbed Arthur around the waist and whispered seductively in his ear. "How about we find some place to use our time alone to the fullest extent?"

* * *

Arthur was staring at Francis making dinner in the kitchen. No matter how many times he saw it, he would never get used to the sight. Francis made his meals on a daily basis now that they lived together.

They started living together a month ago but even then it wasn't easy coming to a decision. They both wanted to keep their old apartments. They argued on this for a very long time. Eventually they realized a very important piece of information.

Neither of their apartments were big enough to house both of them. So then another problem arose. Where they were going to live now? They finally decided to live in a house, but they had many different houses that they wanted to live in.

Eventually they both narrowed down to one house each that they individually liked, and wanted to move into. But they couldn't agree on which house because they both wanted the one they had picked out. This stalemate could have gone on forever, but they were lucky to have their attention brought to another house.

When they looked at the house they finally came to a compromise with the said house. So a week later they moved in.

So here Arthur was a week later staring at Francis make dinner.

"Do I fascinate you when I cook?"

Arthur was spacing out so he didn't hear what Francis said. Francis noticed this and hit him over the head with the spatula he was cooking with.

"Are you listening to me?"

"What?"

"You were staring at me and I asked why."

"I wasn't staring at you for any reason. I was just thinking about how hungry I was and you should hurry up with cooking diner."

Francis turned back to the stove. "Alright. But one day you'll have to tell me what you're really thinking when you have that look on your face."

_Maybe one day I will_, Arthur thought. That day might not be today but that was okay. After all he had the rest of their lives together to tell him.

**A/N: D'accord means 'Alright' in French. **

**This is the conclusion of Childhood Promises. I would like to thank my beta Moongirl12121 and everyone who read this till the end! Happy whatever you happen to celebrate at this time of year!**

**Moongirl12121: T.T That was so much fun doing that! I'm so happy with this story, and how wonderful y'all all are! Thank you so much for letting me beta for you Cnerr!**


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